INTERVIEW: GGAllan Partridge

Sarah Wilson talks to the DIY punks about their extraordinary debut EP

By Sarah Wilson
on Thursday, November 8th, 2018

As soon as GGAllan Partridge hit my radar I was intrigued and excited by what I heard and saw: an all-girl band playing music that’s diverse, strong, psychedelic and punky, shot through with humour and a DIY attitude.

The band recently released their debut EP, “We wanted this EP to capture the kind of fun chaos we had going on at that time.” Says drummer Soph. The four-piece name check “The Slits, David Bowie, Idles, X-Ray Spex, general existential struggle” and “that bass line off Mystic Cave Zone” as just some of their many influences. “The songs are catchy and sometimes silly and you can have a good dance to them,” says guitarist Han, “it’s radge because they’re also about stalkers, being so depressed you can’t function and sleeping in skips.”

Title track Eyesore is loud and shouty with a super catchy chorus; everything you might expect from a female punk band with a bit of a buzz about them. It’s only when you get to second track Visitors that you start to think that GGAllan Partridge may have something really different going on. The band describe the track as “Roxy Music gone really, really wrong”, and the super psychedelic videos created by Soph add to their highly original vibe.

There’s no agenda for our sound; I just want us to be expressive and creative for ourselves

The band have been formed from the ashes of a variety of Teesside bands, initiated by vocalist Dan who approached people to check out the “whack demos” that didn’t fit with her other projects. “The people that got back to me with the warmest responses were all lasses. I never completely ruled out having a dude or two in the band, but from the start it felt too absurd and flamboyant for any Teesside lads anyway. There’s no agenda for our sound; I just want us to be expressive and creative for ourselves.”

Rightly or wrongly, as female musicians GGAllan Partridge will always stand out, and I wanted to know their thoughts on being in the minority in the North East live music scene, do they feel like a change is coming? “Women have been making music since wailing and hitting logs was invented.” says Dan. “There is no natural inequality in music, no reason that any music scene should be 80% men. I think some promoters and bands with influence are attempting change, but we are quite far off any revolutionary impact. Male promoters, label owners and bands need to do more. It’s quite a burden as an all-female band to be given the task of changing things. I hope we inspire other women, queers and any other ‘outsiders’ to get out and do something they love, but do it as much for your own self and sanity as saving the world from sausage-fests.”

After a busy few months, the band are starting to work on new material, as saxophonist Liv explains: “What I love about the band is that what everyone brings is so unique – based on everyone’s other projects and what they’ve been doing in the band so far I’m so excited to see how all of our respective sounds come together. I’m also looking forward to getting a clip mic for my sax so I can boogie freely, no longer encumbered by the phallic prison of the dynamic microphone.”

GGAllan Partridge play Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle on Friday 9th, The Studio, Hartlepool on Friday 16th and The Cluny, Newcastle on Saturday 17th as part of Brave Exhibitions festival.